PHARAOH’S PLEASURE BECOMES ALL-AMERICAN WATERMELON

Mark Twain, the ever-clever and ever-quotable, may have considered pompano a
fish “as delicious as the lesser forms of sin.” But his gaze shifted upward to describe
the watermelon, which he claimed must be “what angels eat.”

Summer is prime time for watermelon, every bit as much as it is for peaches
and nectarines. Not that they are relatives, though watermelon has been given
so many erroneous names in so many languages (even Latin), that we figure
anything is possible. Mix these Word Wars with the dramatic changes when
watermelon went from wild to domestic, and we have a recipe for centuries of
confusion.

The ancient Egyptians weren’t too confused, though. They grew and ate
watermelon. In fact, quite a few pharaohs asked to be buried with watermelon
seeds and paintings of watermelons on the walls of their tombs. Archaeologists,
of course, find this very exciting – especially the painting on one tomb that
shows not the round watermelons that grew wild but today’s oblong-shaped fruit
that came along when humans started planting and growing the things.

As best we can tell, watermelon has made a 5,000-year journey to that picnic
table in your backyard. Since the evidence in Egypt is conclusive, for a long
time scientists believed the melon was developed or discovered in some
different form farther south in Africa and eventually migrated to the most
developed civilization of its day. Increasingly, these same scientists are
wondering if watermelon didn’t shine in ancient Egypt because it began there.

None of these theories starts with anything we picture as watermelon. The
fruits were not only round as a basketball but hardly red – pink was probably
the closest color to what we know and love. And seedless? You can forget
that, since it would take millennia to develop that through botanical genetics,
which had to be invented first.

So one way or the other, watermelon was in Egypt during the golden age of
the pharaohs. Thanks to Egypt’s trade with the rest of the Mediterranean, and
that whole chapter with Caesar and Antony from Rome falling in love with
Cleopatra, people knew about foods the Egyptians were uniquely able to grow
thanks to annual flooding of the Nile. Somewhere along this timeline, the
Hebrews living in Israel at the Mediterranean’s eastern end got hold of some
watermelon, and it’s been grown there ever since.

Another aspect of The Great Watermelon Makeover concerns access to the fruit
inside – and whether there’s any reason to want access. All possible
progenitors of modern watermelon had much thicker, harder skin. Some, in fact,
were almost inaccessible. That was bred out over the centuries, as was the
simple fact that watermelon was bitter. Paintings from 2,000 years ago show
watermelons sliced to be eaten as is, giving us proof that these good things
had happened by then. Or as one historian quipped, watermelon had gone “from
desert to dessert.”

Even more fascinatingly, the gene that moved from yellow flesh to red also
increased the sugar content. It’s all so perfect that we can’t be sure which of
the two changes was sought, with the other a kind of added bonus.

Finally, why? Most researchers believe the answer is in the name, a fact
that continues through most other languages. What was more valuable than fruit
along the dry Mediterranean coast, not to mention across the deserts often
found inland? Or out on a voyage across the salty sea? Water. The thinking is
that watermelons functioned as nature’s canteens, delivering water to thirsty
people devouring their sweet by-then red interior. Some cultures were more
literal: wringing the water from watermelons so they could drink it.

The fruit even supplied water for that long journey to the afterlife. The
pharaohs knew better than to leave home without it.

WATERMELON & FETA SALAD

We’re sure there are all kinds of recipes tried somewhere using
watermelon with meats, seafood and vegetables. But honestly, we agree with Mark
Twain about the flavor of just watermelon. As a way of making it exciting
without taking its star off the dressing room door, here’s a summertime
Mediterranean salad that’s just about perfect.

Place the watermelon, cucumber, red onion and mint in a large bowl. In a
small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lime juice, mustard, salt and pepper.
Drizzle the dressing over the melon mixture and toss to coat. Sprinkle with
feta and serve. Serve 4.